54
I N T E R V I EW
Do you see any differences in the specifics of designing for the French market in compari-
son to ours?
Like in Poland, everything depends on the typology of a place. You design differently for well-defi-
ned office districts, like Parisian
La Défense
,
and differently for historical districts or smaller, older
cities.
LaDéfense
isapurposefulgroupingoftallofficebuildingsdesignedfromscratch,whereeach
new tower – perhaps three more are under construction there as we speak – is supposed to auto-
maticallybecomeacoherentelementoftheoverallmorphologyoftheterritoriallyseparated“city”.
Office buildings constructed in Haussmann’s Paris or XVIII-century or older districts have to take
intoaccountthehistoricalcontextandtakeshape inclosecooperationwiththeconservator-resto-
rer. Itoftenhappensthatamodern,contemporaryofficebuildingemergesona
boulevard
behind
aXIX-centurystonefacade,butthehistoricalelevationalmostalwaysremainsattherequestofthe
conservator. Another real estate market are medium-sized cities like Bordeaux, Lyon or Marseille.
There, depending on location, you also need to be contextual and respect the existing landscape.
In turn, The XVIII century and earlier times are under stricter conservation protection and usually
theentirefabricofsuchahistoricbuilding isprotectedandcanbeadaptedtotheneedsofmodern
office ergonomics, but only under rigorous control of the conservator-restorer. A separate issue is
the protection of contemporary, recognized cultural and architectural heritage of the XX century,
and each such case is examined for instance by the Parisian conservation authorities individually,
before office functions are provided. On the other hand, in the so-called suburban “activity parks”
(
parc d’activité
),
you can afford a different, so-called “modern” morphology of architecture. The
quality of space created there depends on the talent of architects and cultural awareness of inve-
stors and developers, andwe know this may vary. All in all, I believe that the current level of French
architecture isveryhigh inthecontextofadifficultmarket.Fewerbuildingshavebeenbuilt inrecent
years, but their architectural level tends to increase.
What, in your opinion, determines the success of an office building? Location, design, stand-
ard, or perhaps something else?
All of these simultaneously. Good location is the obvious thing repeated thrice, design quality and
standardcannotbeoverestimatedeither;besidesthis,Iwouldalsosaytechnologyandergonomicsof
workspacebuilding.AsIhavementioned,anew,significantvaluehasappeared lately–officebuildings
developed in city centres generate new urban programmes around them, like the European Square
aroundWarsaw Spire inWarsaw’sWola. The developer is building, on his own area and by his own
means,a largesphereofpublicspacewithadedicated landscapeandutilityproject,places foractive
recreation, fountains, greenery and lighting, and then delivers it to the capital’s residents and users.
This isavaluethatcannotbeunderestimated. Ihopeanewformulaofpublic-privatepartnershipwill
soon emerge from a large number of metropolitan projects to create public spaces.
Kronos Ambasador
